"Haha, since you've acknowledged me as your teacher, of course I won't keep this from you.
"But with your current abilities, you won't be able to get the Undying Secret Manual. I'll help you obtain it, then teach you from it." Zhao Nan said to the Bark Five Brothers.
Then Zhao Nan continued, "Although you can't get the Undying Secret Manual yourselves, you should still know where it is."
He paused, then went on. "There's an organization of assassins on the Yulan Continent called the Saber.
"The Saber has an instructor named Cesar.
"Cesar has many titles. Instructor is one of them, and King of Assassins is another.
"At the same time, Cesar was a close friend of Amanda—that is, your ancestor, the first patriarch of the first generation of the Undying Warrior Family on the Yulan Continent.
"They both lived more than five thousand years ago.
"It was an exceptionally chaotic era on the Yulan Continent.
"First, the War God and the High Priest fought a great battle, splitting the Pu'ang Empire on the continent.
"And with the Pu'ang Empire divided, wars began to rage across the continent.
"That was only the most obvious source of turmoil. In truth, that era was far more terrifying and complicated than most people realized.
"Not only were there battles between deities and the rise of the Four Ultimate Warriors, but powerful beings from other planes also descended upon the Yulan Continent.
"In that era, Saint-level warriors weren't considered particularly powerful. There were simply too many strong fighters, and countless Saint-level warriors fell.
"It was then that Cesar and Amanda traveled across the continent together.
"They supported and helped one another.
"Since you know about Undying Warriors, you should also know that their greatest strength is their defense.
"Your ancestor Amanda once saved Cesar, and Cesar, in turn, saved Amanda.
"That was why they were so close.
"If the Undying Secret Manual that Undying Warriors can cultivate from still exists on the Yulan Continent, then it can only be in Cesar's hands."
Zhao Nan told the Bark Five Brothers and Ace what Cesar had said in the original story.
When he was done, he fell silent and quietly sipped his tea, which had gone cold.
After a long while, Black Shark spoke up. "Teacher, I've heard that the Four Ultimate Warriors can only cultivate battle-qi manuals after awakening their bloodlines.
"We're all orphans, and we have no way to test the concentration of our bloodlines."
"Haha, you've been cultivating without ever hitting a bottleneck. Can't you tell that you're different?
"Without an awakened bloodline, the Four Ultimate Warriors are just ordinary people—in fact, they're even worse off than ordinary people, since ordinary people can cultivate battle qi.
"Before their bloodlines awaken, the Four Ultimate Warriors can't cultivate battle qi at all. They can only train their bodies." After giving a brief explanation, Zhao Nan turned to the five of them again. "All right, don't worry about that now. Come over and let your master assess your potential.
"This will determine your ranking among my disciples!"
"Ah!"
As soon as Zhao Nan said this, the Bark Five Brothers were dumbfounded.
After all, on the Yulan Continent, becoming someone's disciple was just that—becoming a disciple. What was this about rankings?
Weren't disciples ranked by when they joined?
But the Bark Five Brothers had one good quality: they didn't ask questions about things they didn't understand. They were very obedient.
They did as Zhao Nan said, standing before him and letting him assess their potential.
Seeing the five brothers' response, Zhao Nan smiled, stood up, and placed his hands on Barker's and Ankh's heads.
He was only putting on an act. The system had already checked the five brothers' attributes.
Their attributes were as follows:
[Disciple Name: Barker Armand; Disciple Rank: S; Disciple Talent: Earth Element, medium; Disciple Bloodline: Undying Warrior; Disciple Secret Technique: None; Disciple Magic Level: None; Disciple Warrior Level: Level Six Warrior.] [Disciple Name: Anke Amanda; Disciple Rank: A; Disciple Talent: Earth Element, low; Disciple Bloodline: Undying Warrior; Disciple Secret Technique: None; Disciple Magic Level: None; Disciple Warrior Level: Level Five Warrior.] [Disciple Name: Black Shark Amanda; Disciple Rank: A; Disciple Talent: Earth Element, low; Disciple Bloodline: Undying Warrior; Disciple Secret Technique: None; Disciple Magic Level: None; Disciple Warrior Level: Level Five Warrior.] [Disciple Name: Buen Amanda; Disciple Rank: A; Disciple Talent: Earth Element, low; Disciple Bloodline: Undying Warrior; Disciple Secret Technique: None; Disciple Magic Level: None; Disciple Warrior Level: Level Four Warrior.] [Disciple Name: Gates Amanda; Disciple Rank: SS; Disciple Talent: Earth Element, high; Disciple Bloodline: Undying Warrior; Disciple Secret Technique: None; Disciple Magic Level: None; Disciple Warrior Level: Level Five Warrior.]
After pretending to assess the five brothers, Zhao Nan lowered his arms and said, "My name is Zhao Nan, as you already know.
"Besides the five of you, I have two other disciples: Linley Baruch and Ace Hyde.
"That's right, just like you, they're both among the Four Ultimate Warriors.
"Linley Baruch is a Dragonblood Warrior, while Ace Hyde is a Violet Flame Warrior."
After speaking, Zhao Nan paused, then said to the Bark Five Brothers, "Linley and Ace are my personal disciples.
"Barker and Gates are outer disciples, while you three, Black Shark, are nominal disciples."
At Zhao Nan's words, the five brothers exchanged glances.
He'd made it clear enough: their potential couldn't compare to Linley's and Ace's.
But none of them thought much of it.
After spending so many years amid the chaos of the Eighteen Duchies of the Northern Territory, they understood that people were different from one another.
Once the five brothers had looked at each other, they bowed to Zhao Nan and called out, "Teacher!"
Zhao Nan smiled and nodded at their address, then pointed at Ace beside him. "This little fellow is Ace Hyde, your second senior brother."
Zhao Nan's voice hitched slightly as he said "second senior brother," but only for an instant.
At his words, the corners of the Bark Five Brothers' mouths twitched.
There was no helping it. Ace was only four years old, while none of the five brothers was younger than twenty.
But the Bark Five Brothers were only stunned for a moment before turning to Ace and saying, "Second Senior Brother!"
Hearing them address him that way, Ace couldn't help laughing. He clapped his hands and cheerfully answered them.
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